The wheel was one of man's earliest and most important inventions. Since the first wheel was invented by the proverbial cave man centuries ago, many types and styles of wheels have been made.
The wheels presently known have various features of construction. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,313,913, issued to Rey, discloses a vehicle wheel having two spoke assemblies connected to a threaded hub. However, the spokes of the Rey wheel are not formed as an integral part of the wheel rim. Rather, the spokes are clamped to the rim by a plurality of bolts around the periphery of the wheel. The spoke hubs are held in place by locknuts or collars threaded onto the hub shaft. The Rey wheel also has a cap threaded over one end of the hub shaft. Therefore, the hub cannot receive a wheel axle through both ends.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,115,919, issued to Flateau, discloses a vehicle wheel having rim members on opposite sides of the wheel which are held together by many bolts around the wheel periphery. The Flateau wheel, like the Rey wheel, also does not have a hollow center shaft open on both ends.
U.S. Pat. No. 917,450, issued to Jones, discloses a sheave or trolley wheel having a hollow hub member and opposite sides held together with two thimbles or collars. The Jones wheel, however, has no spokes.
U.S. Pat. No. 665,467, issued to Riblet, discloses a sheave for wire-rope aerial tramways which has two sides held together by a plurality of bolts. The Riblet sheave has neither spokes nor a hollow hub at its center.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,124,654, issued to Pomeroy, discloses a toy wheel with a discontinuous rim held together by a band around the periphery of the wheel. The spokes are separate members from both the hub and the rim, and are inserted into radial sockets on the hub member, and into holes in the rim. Thus, assembly of the Pomeroy wheel is quite awkward and time consuming.
U.S. Pat. No. 806,872, issued to Clark, discloses a toy wheel having integral spoke, rim, and hub members, but which does not accommodate a tire. Also, the Clark wheel parts are assembled directly on the vehicle axle, and are held together by permanently deforming the outer end of the axle shaft. Thus, once installed on a vehicle axle, the Clark wheel cannot be removed or disassembled if the need to do so arises.
U.S. Pat. No. 687,057, issued to Parker, discloses another toy wheel which requires permanent attachment of the wheel to the vehicle axle by deforming the end of the axle shaft after assembly of the wheel.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,256,086, issued to Whidden, discloses a toy wheel having no spokes or tire rim.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 2,592,164, issued to Maxam, discloses a model airplane wheel which requires a sheet metal band around its periphery, and which has no spokes.
Thus, despite the proliferation of wheel designs since the first wheel was invented, a need still exists for a spoked, tire-receiving wheel that is quickly and easily assembled separately from the vehicle axle without nuts, bolts, screws, rivets, or peripheral bands. Such a wheel will preferably have a hollow hub open on both ends for receiving an axle and be removable from the axle once installed. For simplicity of construction and minimization of cost, the wheel spokes will preferably be formed integrally with the rim and hub members. Ideally, an integral rim-spokes-hub member will be three dimensional and decorative, but formed entirely from inexpensive sheet metal.